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Thursday, November 13, 2014

Budgeting for Christmas

I think I have mentioned
before that I LOVE Christmas and everything about it -- the gift buying, the
decorating, the cookies and yummy food but there is one aspect I don't like about it - the
cost! And I'm sure I am not alone. But there are a few ways you can save
drastically this Christmas.

Planning.

It's important to have a
plan and a set budget in mind, because it can be very easy to overspend and be
suffering from credit card debt in January. If you find the perfect gift for someone on your list but it's over the budget just find a deal on a gift for another person on your list so you even it out. So know your budget and stick to
it!

Each year I buy gifts for
my kids, hubbie, parents, parents-in-law and all my nieces and nephews. I try
to set a budget for each and try to get the kids presents for around $25 each.

There are several free
holiday resources that can help you plan and budget for Christmas including...

Free binder printables from Thirty Handmade Days which includes binder cover, card list, gift lists for ideas & budget, and a section for receipts and birthdays/anniversaries so you're prepared all year long.

iheartorganizing also has some useful and cute Holiday planning printables including party planning list, letter to Santa, December calendar, to do list and travel checklist.

Well you get the idea... there's lots of options on Pinterest and I'm sure you can find some to suit your personal needs.

Shop Sales.

Once you have a plan and a good idea of
what you are going to buy each person on your list, you can look online and in the
flyers for good sales!

I love getting the present
I wanted for 30 or even 50% off!

You can take advantage of
major sales like Black Friday or Cyber
Monday, or look up prices at your major box stores and compare to find the best price for each product.

Keep your receipts organized in case you find a better sale price than the one you purchased before Christmas. Some stores allow you to claim a better sale price for up to 90 days.

Buy Used

Kids, especially younger
kids are oblivious if you buy them second hand toys, and Fisher Price and a few
other brands are very durable and clean up nice.

Just make sure that all
the buttons work and they are clean and you can probably save 80 - 90% on
Christmas toys! I have also found 'like new' name brand clothes at used clothing stores for 70 - 80% off, and if you really shop around you can sometime find designer items. Money you can allocate elsewhere if you have a tight Christmas
budget or start them a college fund ... which they won't appreciate for another
seventeen years. =)What are your favourite ways for saving during the holidays?

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Hi! I'm Kristen and welcome to Musings of an Average Mom! I am a mother to a compassionate, artistic and dramatic 5 year old girl and active and independent 3 year old boy. I created Musings of an Average Mom as somewhere to collect all those daily musings of a mom on parenting, kids activities, blogging, budgeting and general randomness and do hope you will stay a while.